On with the game!

The rest of the training passed, and everyone had improved a fair bit. Though of course, Issei had improved the most. Naturally, Koneko had downplayed that achievement by saying that lower levels leveled up faster. That said, that hadn't changed the fact that Issei had by this point managed to defeat both her and Kiba during their little three on one spars. Never Akeno, and never both Kiba and Koneko in the same spar, but the fact that he could defeat one opponent when outnumbered three to one instead of just getting overwhelmed and steamrolled showed improvement.

He was also up to four Pawn pieces. That was as much as Rias had dared to hope. Now, they were waiting in the old Kuoh building, near midnight, waiting for Grayfia. Issei was pacing, antsy for the contest to start. "We all ready?" Rias asked the Peerage as Raynare shifted, having had the powers of a Pawn piece transferred, and trying to process it. Rias slipped a subtle smirk her way, before looking back over the Peerage.

"About as ready as we can be. We're still at a massive disadvantage," Kiba replied.

"Indeed. It's even worse than we were initially prepared for," Akeno added.

Issei paused his pacing to look towards Akeno. "What do you mean?" he inquired.

"Riser didn't have a full Peerage when the challenge was laid out," Akeno explained. "You probably didn't count at the time, but he still had space for a Bishop. Well, he's filled that spot now."

Issei grimaced. "Great, so they expanded their ranks even though we expanded ours. We have a King, a Queen, one Bishop, one Knight, one Rook, one Pawn, and an Honorary Pawn. Five Pawns if you count the extra pieces I have and the Honorary one. We're going to have to fight like an army." He glanced at Rias. "... you're sure your other Bishop can't join us?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Rias replied. "Still... They shouldn't expect much of a fight from us. If we strike hard, fast and early, we might be able to even the odds."

"Right, make sure that we take full advantage of being underestimated," Issei nodded. "We also know that we need to fight dirty, right?"

"Of course. If the rule isn't written down, it doesn't exist," Raynare smirked. "Speaking of which, yes, I brought the thing you asked for," she added to Issei.

"Good," Rias smirked. "Save it for Riser if you can. We need every possible advantage against him. And make sure you keep it away from us too. And you two need to promote to Queens as soon as possible. But we can't have you make a beeline for enemy territory when we get started."

"Because they will expect it, and we need to focus on keeping Riser's eight Pawns from invading our territory, right?" Issei realized.

"Exactly," Rias nodded as Issei resumed his pacing and thinking.

"...where are we going to be fighting, anyway?" Issei asked.

"We don't know. Both Peerages are kept in the dark until we're brought there. It's to prevent anyone preemptively sneaking in, and setting traps before the game even starts. Or having outside interference on standby," Rias explained. "And yes, both have happened in the past."

"I can see that. Cheating happens in any game you can think of," Issei nodded. "I mean, look at what we're doing. Not cheating, per say, but we are bending rules, aren't we? That's just one step removed from cheating."

"We can't afford to fight fair though," Rias agreed, before Grayfia appeared.

"I trust you're all ready? The game is about to begin," she stated seriously, giving them all a long look, her gaze lingering on Raynare, but not commenting.

"We are," Rias nodded, before they headed for the circle.

"...just so we're clear, the moment the words, "I wish," leave your lips, your Peerage is disqualified," Grayfia told Issei. "You were allowed to use Rias's genie powers to prepare, but during the match itself, it is off limits."

"...got it," Issei grumbled, before they teleported.